Steroid formulation

ABSTRACT

A steroid formulation having enhanced properties for topical application comprises 21-chloro-9 Alpha -fluoro- Delta 4pregnene-11 Beta ,16 Alpha ,17 Alpha -triol-3,20-dione 16,17acetonide in a vehicle containing as major ingredients propylene glycol and water.

United States Patent [191 Difazio et al.

[ STEROID FORMULATION [75] Inventors: Louis Thomas Difazio, Somerville;

Matthew Anthony Augustine, Allentown, both of NJ.

[73] Assignee: E. R. Squibb & Sons, Inc.,

Princeton, NJ.

22 Filed: Nov. 24, 1972 21 Appl.No.:309,295

52 us. Cl 424/241; 260/239.55 D 51 Int. cm A61K 31/58 58 Field of Search 424/241; 260/239.55 D

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,644,340 2/1972 Berkoz 260/239.55 D

[451 July 1,1975

3,758,686 l0/l973 Sieger et a]. 260/239.55 D

Primary ExaminerElbert L. Roberts Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Lawrence S. Levinson; Merle J. Smith; Burton Rodney 7] ABSTRACT 8 Claims, N0 Drawings 1 STEROID FORMULATION OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved composition for the topical application of 21' chloro-9a-fluoro-N-pregnene-l 1B, 1 601,1 7a-triol-3,20-

dione 16,17-acetonide. Another objectis to provide a SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a steroid composition having enhanced properties for topical application. The steroid employed in the present invention is 21- chloro-9a-fluoro-N-pregnene-l 13,1 601,1 7a-triol-3,20- dione l6,l7-acetonide. The composition according to the present invention for topical application of the foregoing steroid comprises as major ingredients propylene glycol and water. The propylene glycol is present in an amount of from about 30% by weight to about 70% by weight based on total weight of the composi- 2 The steroid is'present in an amount of from about 0.005% by weight to about 0.2% by weight, based on the total weight of the composition. The propylene glycol is' present in an amount of from 'about 30% by weight to about 70% by weight based on the total weight of the composition. Water is present in an amount of from about 7% by weight to about 45% by weight based on the total weight of the composition. The high er amounts of water are associated with the lower amounts of propylene glycol. The quantity of propylene glycol in the composition must be sufficient to solubilize at least about 30% by weight of the steroid, and up to a maximum of about 75% by weight of the steroid.

Expressed another way the compositions of the present invention contain, with respect to propylene glycol and water, from about 40% by weight to about 90% by weight of propylene glycol, and, correspondingly, from about 60% by weight to about 10% by weight of water. The propylene glycol and water together make up from about 73% to about 82% of the total weight of the composition. The balance of the composition is made up of oleaginous material, emulsifying agent. and steroid.

The solubility of the steroid increases as the propylene glycol content increases. The following table. shows the parts by weight of steroid that are soluble at roomtemperature in a composition of propylene glycol tion and water is present in an amount of from about and water.. 1

Table I by weight propylene I glycol 40 50 60 70 80 i 90 I 7: by weight water 60 50 40 3O 20 l0 Parts by weight of steroid in solution at room temperature 0.002 0.008 0.015 0.047 0.060 0.110

7% by weight to about %-by weight based on total weight of the composition.

From about 30% by weight to about 75% by weight of the steroid is in solution and the remainder is in suspension. The compositions contain from about 15% to about 25% oleaginous materialsx DETAILED DESCRIPTION CH CI.

The compositions of the present invention also preferably contain from about 15% by weight to about 25% by weight of oleaginous materials. The oleaginous materials are those conventionally employed in topical creams and include thickeners such as, for example, monoglycerides and fatty alcohols, and alsocontain emollients, such as fatty acid esters of alcohols having from about 3 to about '16 carbon atoms. Examples of suitable -monoglycerides are glyceryl monostearate, glyceryl monooleate,glyceryl monopalmitate and glyceryl ricinoleate. Examples of fatty alcohols are cetyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol and myristyl alcohol. Examples of suitable esters are myristyl stearate and isopropyl palmitate. The monoglyceride also functions as an emulsifier. Preferably, a small amount of an emulsifying agent is present. Suitable emulsifying agents are the non-ionic polyoxyalkylene derivatives of hexitol anhydride partial long chain fatty acid esters, e.g., the polyoxyalkylen'e derivatives of sorbitan monolaurate. sorbitan monopalmitate, sorbitan monostearate, sorbitan tristearate, sorbitan monooleate or sorbitan trioleate.

These emulsifying agents are commercially available as line steroid is dissolved in the aqueous propylene glycol thereby maintaining a saturated solution of the steroid during topical application. The steroid formulation of the present invention possesses a desirable degree of 4.' dried over sodium sulfate. Evaporation of the solvent in vacuo furnishes the crystalline chloride, which after recrystallization from acetone-ethanol has the following properties: M.P. about 276-2 7.7"..

occlusiveness whereby moisture resulting from an inw 5 EXAMPLES 2-6 crease in skm hydratlon (due to the occluslveness of V 1 the topicalvehicle) helps balance water vapor lost from .Topical creams are formulated from the following in,- the vehicle through evaporation. As a result a dynamic gredients: A. 2l-chloro 9a-fluoro-N-pregnenesystem is achieved which maintains a saturated solution l 1,8, l 6a, 1 7a-triol-3,20-dione 16,1 7-acetonide of the steroid in the vehicle. 10 B. Glyceryl monostearate .An advantage of the steroid formulation of the pres- C. Cetyl alcohol ent invention is that the incorporation of preservatiyes D. Myristyl stem-me is not necessary inasmuch as the level of propylene gly- E lsopropyl l im col employed imparts antimicrobial properties. An- Tween 60 other advantage is that the steroid formulation of the G Propylene l l present invention is non-irritating and non-stinging |-i water U S P EXAMPLE 2 3 4 5 6 Ingredient Parts by weight I A. 0.05 0.10 1.00 1.00 2.00 B. 120.12 94.44 94.44 70.30 94.44- C. 29.25 22.22 22.22 18.25 22.22 1). 65.22 55.56 55.56 44.28 55.56 E. 26.95 22.22 22.22 18:19 22.22 F. 33.33 33.33 33.33 33.33 33.33 0. 300.00 400.00 600.00 700.00 700.00 H. 437.93 372.13 171.23 ll5.65 1 70.23 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00- I oi te r b fii in solution 5 9 ,39 71 :58 even when used under occlusion due to the presence of PROCEDURE water v 35 l. The myristyl stearate, cetyl alcohol, .glyceryl 5 :$33 ?liiii l f xglrjgigi li i zizi g x; monostearate, isopropyl palmitate and about one-third of the Tween 60 are heated to about 90 and melted. temperatures expressed m degrees Cenugmde (2) The theoretical quantity of steroid which is soluble 40 in the final product is dissolved in about 90% of the EXAMPLE propylene glycol w1th gentle warmmg. (3) The balance of the Tween 60 1s m1xed with the water, the m1xture A- l6a-Hydr0Xy-9a-Fluorohydrocortisone Acelonideheated to about 90 and addedto the steroid-propylene .2l-Mesylate glycol solution which is also at a temperature of about 90. 4) The oil phase from step 1 is added to the aque- To a solution of 1.5 g. of l6a-hydroxy-90ztou'sglycol phase and mixed rapidly at about 90". The. fluorohydrocortisone acetonide in 15 ml. of dry pyrimixing is continued until emulsification is complete-. dine is added at 0, 1.5 ml. of methane-sulfony] chlo- The cream is then cooled to room temperature. (5) ride. After standing in the refrigerator for 2V2 hours..ex- The remaining microcrystalline steroid is slurried in the cess methane-sulfonyl chloride is destroyed by the adremaining propylene glycol and blended into the cream ditionof a small amount of ice, after which ice-water at room temperature until uniform. is added slowly to precipitate the reaction product. After A hour in the refrigerator the material is filtered EXAMPLE 7 off, washed throughly with waterand dried in vacuo. A group of 90 patients (44 males, 46 females) rang- The resulting crude material after recrystallization ing in age from 8 to 72 years, the majority of whom from acetone-hexane gives the pure 2l-mesylate of the (94%) were adults, having bilateral lesions of similar following properties: M.P. about 225-227' (dec.); severity, persistency and etiology were subjected to a [a],, +l l2 (c., 0.5 in chlf.); double-blind, paired comparison study. Forty-five pa- A,,,,, 2.86; 2.94;'5.'l6; 5.90; 5.96; 6.1412. tients had psoriasis; 23 eczematous dermatitis; l3 neut rodermatitis; and 9 atopic dermatitis. Commercially 4 available betamethasone-l7-valerate cream formula- 2 l 9' 'Pregnene'l 3 U tion served as the control and was applied to one of the a'zo'Dlone l6l7'Acetomde bilateral lesions; the formulation of example 4 was ap- A solution of 200 mg. of the acetonide 2l-mesylate plied to the other. Each patient applied both creams in from part A and 900 mg. of lithium chloride in'25..ml.-' similar fashion three times daily for a three-week treatof dimethyl formamide is kept at l00 for 24 hours. The mixture is poured on ice, extracted with chloroform and the chloroform extract washed with water and ment period. Statistically significant superiority of the composition of example 4 was maintainedeach week in those categories (psoriasis and eczematous dermatitis) where more than patients were treated. This is contrary to the usual experience with topical antiinflammatory drugs containing potent fluorinated corticosteroids where the apparent differences between preparations tend to equalize with time. When all the patients were evaluated. the number of excellent and good responses comprised 74% of the total for the composition of example 4 and 53% for bethamethasone-l7-valerate. For those patients who had psoriasis, these percentages were 8] and 60 for the composition of example 4 and bethamethasone-l7 valerate, respectively. The same pattern was observed for atopic dermatitis, eczematous dermatitis and neurodermatitis.

What is claimed is:

l. A cream composition for topical application comprising from about 0.05 part to about 2.0 parts by weight of 2 l -chloro-9oz-fluoro-N-pregnene l l,8,l6a,l70z-triol-3,2-,dione l6,l7-acetonide, from about 300 to about 700 parts by weight of propylene glycol, from about 70 to about 440 parts by weight of water, about 33 parts by weight of polyoxyalkylene derivative of hexitol anhydride partial long chain fatty acid ester, and from about 180 to about 260 parts by weight of monoglyceride of fatty acid of from 16 to 18 carbon atoms. fatty alcohol of from 12 to 16 carbon atoms, or fatty acid ester of alcohol having from 3 to about l6 carbon atoms, the lower amounts of the steroid being employed with the lower amounts of propylene glycol, and the higher amounts of the steroid being employed with the higher amounts of propylene glycol, whereby from about to about 75 by weight of the steroid is in solution in the propylene glycol.

2. A composition according to claim 1 which contains from about 0.01% by weight to about 0.2% by weight of steroid, from about 30% by weight to about 70% by weight of propylene glycol, from about 7% by weight to about by weight of water, about 3% polyoxyalkylene derivative of hexitol anhydride partial long chain fatty acid ester, and from about l5 to about 25% by weight of monoglyceride of fatty acid of from 16 to 18 carbon atoms, fatty alcohol of from 12 to l6 carbon atoms, or fatty acid ester of alcohols having from 3 to about lo carbon atoms, the percentages of propylene glycol and water being such that from about 30 to about by weight of the steroid is in solution in the propylene glycol.

3. A composition according to claim 1 which contains with respect to propylene glycol and water from about 40% by weight to about by weight of propylene glycol and, correspondingly, from about 60% by weight to about 10% by weight of water, the propylene glycol and water together accounting for from about 73% by weight to about 82% by weight of the total composition, from about 0.1% by weight to about 0.2% by weight of steroid, about 3% polyoxyalkylene derivative of hexitol anhydride partial long chain fatty acid ester and from about l5 to about 25% monoglyceride of fatty acid of from 16 to 18 carbon atoms, fatty alcohol of from l2 to 16 carbon atoms, or fatty acid ester of alcohols having from 3 to about 16 carbon atoms.

4. A composition according to claim 1 which con tains about I part by weight of steroid, about 94 parts by weight of glyceryl monostearate, about 22 parts by weight of cetyl alcohol, about 55 parts by weight of myristyl stearate, about 22 parts by weight of isopropyl palmitate, about 33 parts by weight of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate, about 600 parts by weight of propylene glycol, and about 171 parts by weight of water.

5. A method of treating dermatitis which comprises administerming topically an effective amount ofa composition of claim 1.

6. A method of treating dermatitis which comprises administering topically an effective amount of a composition of claim 2.

7. A method of treating dermatitis which comprises administering topically an effective amount of a composition of claim 3.

8. A method of treating dermatitis which comprises administering topically an effective amount of a composition of claim 4.

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. 2,857

DATED July 1, 1975 INVENTOR(S) Louis Thomas DiFazio et al.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

line 19,

Column 5, "3,2" should read -3,20-.

Column 6, lin e 31, "administerming" should read --administering- A nest:

RUTH C. MASON Arresting Officer C. MARSHALL DANN Commissioner of Parents and Trademarks 

1. A CREAM COMPOSITION FOR TOPICAL APPLICATION COMPRISING FROM ABOUT 0.05 PART TO ABOUT 2,0 PARTS BY WEOGHT OF 21CHLORO-9A-FLUORO-$4PREGENE-11B, 16A, 17A-TRIOL-3,2-,DIONE U6,17-ACETONIDE, FROM ABOUT 300 TO ABOUT 700 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF PROPYLENE GLYCOL, FROM ABOUT 70 TO ABOUT 440 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF WATER, ABOUT 33 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF POLYOXYALKYLENE DERIVATIVE OF HEXITOL ANHYDRIDE PARTIAL LONG CHAIN FATTY ACID ESTER, AND FROM ABOUT 180 TO ABOUT 260 PARTS BY WEIGHT OF MONOGLYCERIDE OF FATTY ACID OF FROM 16 TO 18 CARBON ATOMS FATTY ALCOHOL OF FROM 12 TO 16 CARBON ATOMS, OR FATTY ACID ESTER OF ALCOHOL HAVING FROM 3 TO ABOUT 16 CARBON ATOMS, THE LOWER AMOUNTS OF THE STEROID BEING EMPLOYED WITH THE LOWER AMOUNTS OF PROPYLENE GLYCOL, AND THE HIGHER AMOUNTS OF THE STEROID BEING EMPLOYED WITH THE HIGHER AMOUNTS OF PROPYLENE GLYCOL, WHEREBY FROM ABOUT 30 TO ABOUT 75% BY WEIGHT OF THE STEROID IS IN SOLUTION IN THE PROPYLENE GLYCOL.
 2. A composition according to claim 1 which contains from about 0.01% by weight to about 0.2% by weight of steroid, from about 30% by weight to about 70% by weight of propylene glycol, from about 7% by weight to about 45% by weight of water, about 3% polyoxyalkylene derivative of hexitol anhydride partial long chain fatty acid ester, and from about 15 to about 25% by weight of monoglyceride of fatty acid of from 16 to 18 carbon atoms, fatty alcohol of from 12 to 16 carbon atoms, or fatty acid ester of alcohols having from 3 to about 16 carbon atoms, the percentages of propylene glycol and water being such that from about 30 to about 75% by weight of the steroid is in solution in the propylene glycol.
 3. A composition according to claim 1 which contains with respect to propylene glycol and water from about 40% by weight to about 90% by weight of propylene glycol and, correspondingly, from about 60% by weight to about 10% by weight of water, the propylene glycol and water together accounting for from about 73% by weight to about 82% by weight of the total composition, from about 0.1% by weight to about 0.2% by weight of steroid, about 3% polyoxyalkylene derivative of hexitol anhydride partial long chain fatty acid ester and from about 15 to about 25% monoglyceride of fatty acid of from 16 to 18 carbon atoms, fatty alcohol of from 12 to 16 carbon atoms, or fatty acid ester of alcohols having from 3 to about 16 carbon atoms.
 4. A composition according to claim 1 which contains about 1 part by weight of steroid, about 94 parts by weight of glyceryl monostearate, about 22 parts by weight of cetyl alcohol, about 55 parts by weight of myristyl stearate, about 22 parts by weight of isopropyl palmitate, about 33 parts by weight of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate, about 600 parts by weight of propylene glycol, and about 171 parts by weight of water.
 5. A method of treating dermatitis which comprises administerming topically an effective amount of a composition of claim
 1. 6. A method of treating dermatitis which comprises administering topically an effective amount of a composition of claim
 2. 7. A method of treating dermatitis which comprises administering topically an effective amount of a composition of claim
 3. 8. A method of treating dermatitis which comprises administering topically an effective amount of a composition of claim
 4. 